Question

ERP is the backbone of many businesses. Using your own words, please answer the following questions:
a. Identify and explain the differences between SCM and CRM? Provide examples.
b. Explain how an ERP system can improve organizational performance? Provide examples

Answer 1

A: The differences between the CRM and SCM are:

• The CRM targets the marketing process and the SCM targets at the distribution
• The CRM is used mainly to collect the data and the SCM is mainly targeted at the managing the data to improve the transportation and logistics.
• CRM can be an individual activity and the SCM is a collaborative effort always

B: Below mentioned are the ways in which the ERP system can help the organization improve its performance:

• Make the reliable data available to the top management at any point in time
• Help the top management in making better business decisions
• Helps the company in removing unnecessary operations and data
• Helps in the reduction of cost and time lags in the processes
• Acts a bridge between different business functions of the company and provide reliable information
• The company can increase the data security using the ERP systems
• It can help the company in managing their resources and investments wisely.

Examples:

A manufacturing company can make use of the ERP system to analyze the inventory and also find the gaps in the system. Based on this analysis, they can fill the gaps and reduce the inventory depending on the needs of the business.

An automobile company can make use of the ERP system study the marketing and sales data to find the correlation and design the marketing strategy based on the needs of the sales team.